Design Matters

Recently a human factors engineer from my team, Dr. Neil Ganey, led the usability research for a new mouse design. When Neil started working on the Laser Mouse, there was an idea in the usability team that the mouse should be silent. I actually liked the idea, but we decided that it warranted some testing.

What follows is Neil’s account of this endeavor:

In our user testing sessions, we had a prototype of our mouse, our previous scroll wheel mouse, and two competitive mouse designs, one of which promoted “silent buttons.”

When we analyzed the data, two very interesting findings came out. First, users did not like the feel of the switch that was used in the “silent” mouse. While this could itself be another topic altogether, it was one of the hazards that I had anticipated, since there is no clear detent when the mouse button is depressed.

Second, and more interesting to me, was that users by and large did not like the fact that it was silent. This also came up in the after-task interviews. When asked to explain further, the users explained that they couldn’t tell when they had “clicked” the mouse button. When I asked whether they would prefer a model that was silent but felt like the regular mouse when they clicked the buttons, they responded that they would prefer a quieter sound to no sound at all.

This led to a great deal of work focusing on the best tone and loudness of click sound. All in all, I think that the Laser Mouse does a very good job of finding a balance and being a good choice for users. ThinkPad users may notice that we pay special attention to this

This second finding surprised me. I had thought that users would want a silent mouse if the feel of the mouse click were kept the same. Many users, it seems have become reliant on the auditory feedback that they get when they hear the button click. Sometimes people who work on design or usability want to make a system as simple as possible. While this is a solid goal, in general, any significant changes to the status quo should always be tested thoroughly before final implementation into the product. I guess it goes to show that sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone… including the sound of your mouse.

You can find the Lenovo Laser Mouse here.

David Hill

Dear Lenovo Blogs readers,
I just wanted to take a quick moment to let you know we are back up & running. Everything came through the transition well and we are back in the swing of things.

Tim Supples

Dear Readers,
LenovoBlogs will be undergoing scheduled maintenance this weekend, beginning at 3pm EST. This will allow us to continue providing reliable access to the blogs as well as more easily adding new enhancements & features.

During this period of maintenance, no new posts will be published and comments will be frozen. We expect everything to go live again Monday or Tuesday of the coming week, of course depending on any technical hangups along the way. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend

Tim Supples

The design of a notebook computer, especially a ThinkPad, is one of the most complex design tasks you can imagine. Technical components such as hardfiles, batteries, processors, fans, venting, display, input/output connectors, speakers, keyboard assembly, pointing devices, docking connector, antennas, and even labels are all part of the list of ingredients the designer must consider. It would be wonderful to take out a fresh sheet of paper and place all of the things such as the screen, keyboard, speakers, and connectors where you would like them and be done with it. If only it were that easy.

Designing a ThinkPad is like putting together a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Your only hint for solving the puzzle is that it will eventually end up as a black rectangle. Hundreds of variations are tried before the final layout is decided on. I have probably heard the phrase ” we tried that, it won’t fit” more than any other designer in history. Did I mention that one of the key things we strive for is leadership in weight and dimensions? This adds to the degree of difficulty. Every gram and millimeter is painstakingly considered, argued, and analyzed. ThinkPad bloat is not tolerated. Richard Sapper once compared this exercise to packing a suitcase for a journey. The X series is for a short overnight stay and the G series was for a extended holiday. I think the analogy is spot on.

I have been seeing a lot of comments recently about ThinkPad design that are connected to this exercise. Why are the audio ports on the front edge? Why are my TrackPoint buttons more rectangular? Why is my display border wider on the top and left side? All of these are the result of solving the puzzle. The audio ports are on the front edge of a T61 because there is no configuration that puts them in the ideal spot without making some other more significant tradeoff. The Trackpoint buttons are no longer curved beccause they won’t fit in the space remaining between the hardfile and the PCMCIA slots. The display is slightly offset in order to make room for the latest antenna array. Sure we could have put the antenna somewhere else but it would reduce the performance. I hope you are starting to get the picture. I plan on writing several posts on this topic with more details, stay tuned. Maybe we should make a totally transparent ThinkPad, like the iconic visible man of the 60’s.

David Hill

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite artists, Andy Warhol. A central figure in the pop art movement, Andy actually got his start as an illustrator. He is most famous for his wonderful brightly colored silkscreen images of cultural icons such as Elvis, Marilyn Monroe and of course Cambell’s tomato soup cans. Although highly controversial, Andy is widely recognized as one of the most influencial artists of the 20th century. Andy never owned a ThinkPad, he died five years before it’s introduction in 1987. I can only imagine how Warhol might have created a signature artwork celebrating the iconic status of ThinkPad. We could always use another 15 minutes of fame. Happy birthday Andy!

David Hill

What a reaction to the post and poll about stripes and ThinkPad. You clearly have a position on stripes and we agree. We plan on putting the stripes back at the earliest date possible. Changes like this are complex due to tooling costs, lead times, and other manufacturing or supply chain constraints. We plan on continued use of this blog as a forum for discussing ThinkPad future design. Thanks for the feedback.

David Hill